DFSD's five year plan... and all it brings along the way

debtfreesomeday

Not a lot to report this morning...

I realised I will be getting 3.5 hours OT in April's pay, not 2 as I previously thought, so that will be a little bit extra. Hubby had to take a day's unpaid leave last month though to attend a funeral, so it won't cover that but will go a way towards it.

I've pinched an idea from YukkiBear's diary (thanks Yukki!) and am rounding my bank balance down to the nearest whole number and transferring the odd amount of pennies every day into one of the e-saver accounts. So far I have 90p - 17p yesterday and 73p today! :rotfl:I guess it will all add up and go towards something else eventually.

Work is quiet, so the days are dragging at the moment. I slept better last night, but I'm feeling exhausted lately. My outlook on life is a little dim presently, which has not been helped by the constant battle with money and finances. It has spurred us on to re-assess our budget and, we have come to the decision that we are going to cut the amount we are throwing at the loans monthly from May when we will start overpaying. Instead of paying £900 towards our debts every month, we wil pay off £800 and leave ourselves with a little more breathing space in the petrol and grocery budget with the extra £100. We seem to be constantly going over on the petrol budget of £150 through essential driving and this just leaves us overdrawn which is not good for the bank account or the motivation. It will take us an extra 3 months to repay the Lloyds loan this way, but we'll have to live with that.

DFSD

debtfreesomeday

£3's finally made its way into my Paypal account from a survey done last week. Work is extremely quiet, so I'm off to look at our budget and research some more money-making ideas!

debtfreesomeday

I've just realised that dropping the overpayments by £100 will not be as bad as first thought - from mid September we would've finished paying for our sofas which frees up an extra £103 a month to throw back at the Lloyds loan instead. So it'll only put back the paying off of the loan by a month, not three as I first thought.

Also, outstanding debt is now under 15K as of this month, meaning we've paid off around 20K since we first started on this journey!

Chocforever

Hi DFSD

That seems very sensible to increase the budgets rather than feel you haven't achieved a target every month, despite your best efforts. Petrol is creeping up in price too, I notice it even with my little car and I don't drive a huge amount.

Things are looking a bit better here too. It was initially looking like I had no hope of achieving my £1,000 target this month, but it is now looking feasible if I keep my food and general spending down. I have quite a bit of MS money to come in from my shopping extravaganza in March. I have done a bit of MBing which has brought in £100. I have also qualified for a gambling promotion which looks quite lucrative. So onwards and upwards!

debtfreesomeday

Hi Chocs

Glad you're reaping the benefits from March's MS Marathon as well as the MBing. I really intend on getting into the MBing, but will have to wait until I can build a float up first without the guilt of not paying it off the debts.

Good luck with reaching the £1k too, I have every faith you'll manage it. :T

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

We went to a friend's for dinner last night, so a cheap day for us - although took some salad and a few bits that we had in to contribute to the meal.

I reviewed our budget yesterday and was pleased to see that we are doing ok this month and would just about come in without being overdrawn. But, have seen that £18 for something I forgot about has come out of the bank account today, which I hadn't factored in. I might be able to make this up from the food budget if we don't spend it all, as we're doing well on that at the moment, we have only spent £65 on groceries so far this month. :T It is certainly helping to keep the cash in a pot and not paying on the card, also not having our regular online order and just buying as we need things - and sticking to a list (99% of the time anyway!). I think we'll definitely do the same again next month.

DFSD

yukkibear

well done, it's all sounding good for you. I have done a meal plan this week (first time in ages) so hopefully this will help me get back into routine for coming weeks.

debtfreesomeday

Good luck with the meal plan Yukki.

Well work is so quiet, so I have entered about 30 comps this morning, may do some more later. I was also emailed a music survey for £10 reward. I have completed it but said they'll 'be in touch' with regards to the £10, so won't count my chickens on that one until it's in the bank.

debtfreesomeday

This morning we picked up a freebie from the post office - a big bottle of the Ariel lift off liquid from the freebies board. Came in good time as I was just about to buy some more washing powder.

Yesterday I finished work a bit early to take advantage of the lovely sunshine. I planted loads of seed potatoes and some lettuces and tidied up the garden a bit. It was really enjoyable to get out there and get planting again. I received a £10 garden centre voucher for my birthday, so sometime at the weekend I shall pick up some more compost so I can plant the rest out. We also intend to get started on our front garden at the weekend, as it needs a bit of landscaping, so I shall enjoy that. I turned down offers of shopping trips to the City with friends this weekend as I know I can't afford to spend any money. I was offered a free lunch as an incentive but even that didn't sway me!

I need to pick up some fresh fruit tonight or tomorrow from Lidl (my new favourite grocery store!). There's plenty left in the grocery pot so will be paying by cash (my new favourite method of payment!).

Happy Friday everyone

DFSD
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debtfreesomeday

I'm not looking enjoying the first day back at work after a lovely weekend.

Unfortunately it wasn't a very budget-friendly weekend after all. We started on the garden on Saturday and worked outside for most of the day on it. We got loads done, but ran into various problems and severely underestimated the amount of materials we would need, which ended up in us making a couple of trips out to buy more supplies - costing about £50 in total. The garden looks lovely though now and I am really pleased we managed to get so much done. It is not finished yet - we need to order 2 or 3 bags of stone to be delivered which will cost about £80 - £120 (depending on how much we need), but that will definitely have to wait a month or two.

I also bought a pair of summer flip flops yesterday as it was such lovely weather and I only have winter boots and trainers presently, so that was another £9.99 spent.

Despite all the money spent, we had a lovely weekend, which ended with a trip to the beach, some swimming in the sea and mini BBQ with friends last night.

Today, however, is a different story... due to the gardening and over-zealous swimming yesterday, I can hardly move a muscle!:rotfl:Let's just say I've found muscles I've never met before!

DFSD
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